New Friends In Odd Places
by Ashynarr
Summary: Just because a meeting is long and stressful doesn't mean some good can't come out of it. Perhaps even a new friend? (Repost, First Published Jan 13 2014)
New Friends in Odd Places (Hetalia)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: Just because a meeting is long and stressful doesn't mean some good can't come out of it. Perhaps even a new friend?

Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine.

Warning: Ame Liech friendship, repost, first written Jan 13 2014

[Part 22 Page 13]

Prompt: _I'd like to see a fic where two characters that haven't much/any screentime together being friends (e.g. India and Taiwan, Finland and Canada, Romania and Prussia). Genderbends are welcome! Oh, and Author!anon can make this pre-slash or pre-het (or however you call it), but I'd like the focus to be on their friendship…_

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Alfred groaned, resting his head on the table while praying for a small miracle of some sort to make his headache go away, or at least get him out of the afternoon meetings so he could go home and crawl into bed for the next week or so. Really, was it so hard for the rest of the world to lay off of him for things that didn't even really matter? Who cared that he still gave measurements for new research in Fahrenheit and miles and gallons instead of Celsius and kilometers and liters?

But no, instead of acknowledging the research he'd brought forth to bolster his argument for a new clean energy initiative, they'd taken their sweet time to nitpick at all the little things within the report.

He sighed. Maybe he should just go back to not bothering to provide anything meaningful at the meetings. It hardly seemed like they cared one way or the other, and there was an additional bonus of not having to stress over data sheets for weeks before a meeting.

On the other hand, he really did want to show that he wasn't the stereotype they liked to see him as nowadays, and that he wasn't falling behind like they liked to claim. He wasn't stupid - he never had been! - so all this was… well, frustrating, to say the least.

Maybe he'd have better luck this afternoon?

Alfred snorted self-deprecatingly. He must be getting desperate if he was willing to believe _that_.

"Are you alright?"

Alfred slowly lifted his head, blinking blearily at whoever had pulled him out of his moping. "Yeah, I'm fine, just…" He waved his hands, not sure exactly how to explain his mood without using some of his more colorful language. "What brings you over here, ah… Liechtenstein, right?"

Elise smiled lightly. "I was hoping we could talk more about your new clean engine designs, Mr. America."

Alfred blinked, sitting up straight at that. Was this some sort of trick on her part to get in another laugh?

...no, no, he didn't think so. Elise was one of the nicest Nations, reputedly, so unless she was put up by somebody to use as a cover, her interest was probably genuine.

"What about it did ya wanna talk about? And sit down, I won't bite, promise."

"Well…" She started, sitting down in the offered spot and opening her folder to the copy of his report. "I was wondering what advantages you get out of this sideways piston design you have here."

"That?" He leaned over the table to better reach her folder. "You see how the pistons are on either side of the chamber? Well, when the gas is ignited in the chamber it pushes this part-"

He spent nearly ten minutes going through all the aspects of the process, pointing out the differences between the new design and the older ones. To his pleased surprise, she not only kept up when he went into the more technical details, but asked relevant questions that even had him taking and crossing out notes of his own.

By the time they'd finished their discussion, more than a half hour had passed, and they were the only ones still in the room, the others having left to go back to the meeting while the two were distracted. At least Alfred didn't have his headache anymore, much to his pleased surprise.

Elise stood up, ready to rush out and get to the meeting, but Alfred caught her with a grin. "Hey, don't worry about it. Why don't we just go get some coffee or something and catch up on the meeting later?"

"I don't know…"

"You're brother's in there right now, right? Probably taking notes?"

She blinked at the question. "Well, yes…"

"Then he'll probably be more than willing to give you a copy of the notes later. I do that sort of thing with Matt all the time."

Elise frowned, looking out towards the meeting hall, before sighing. "If you're sure, America…"

"Call me Alfred. We're pals now, right?"

She blinked at the comment, before smiling. "You can call me Elise, then."

"Sweet! Let's get going then!" Alfred grinned, quickly gathering up the papers and tucking them away into their respective folders.

"When'd you get so good at this tech stuff?" He asked as they made their way down the hall towards the exit.

Elise tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. "I've always liked working with machines; I used to help fix wagons when I was younger, and when the Industrial Revolution came along I just decided to work on whatever seemed new and interesting. I ended up working with my brother or one of my cousins whenever they had things they needed to build." She laughed. "I actually cut my hair after the second world war because it kept getting in the way and I was worried it'd get caught in the machinery."

"Wait, so that was _you_ helping Switzy back then?" Alfred actually paused a moment to look at her. "Dang, how did I not see that?"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry, everyone else had that reaction too. It was a pretty big change…"

"Still, I should've been able to recognize you before now… augh, I feel so oblivious…"

Elise placed a hand on his arm. "Really, it's alright. Don't beat yourself up over it."

"Well, if you're sure…" He returned her smile, feeling better about the mistake.

Actually, he was just feeling better in general. Why hadn't he thought to talk to Elise before now? She was such a neat person! Oh, right, Europe, that might've been it. He should fix that, actually.

...The chatting and hanging out more thing, not the European thing.

"Hey, did you want to come over to my place sometime?"

Elise blinked, confused. "Are you sure?"

He grinned. "Of course I'm sure! I could show you all the cool exhibits at the Smithsonian, including the air and space one."

"That's the one with the capsule from the Apollo missions, right?"

"Yep!"

She smiled. "Well, I've always wanted to see it in person, but I've been so busy I haven't had the chance…"

"Great! Just lemme know when you have a week or so free and I'll make sure to give you the best techie tour I can manage."

"I'm looking forward to it."

It was definitely the beginnings of something great.

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AN: I decided to do America + Liechtenstein, because, well, reasons. I can't say how accurate my Liech is, though, so forgive me, fans of her! All the info I have I got from other people and what I can remember from the episodes.

Might write more of this friendship in the future, IDK.

Me of two years from this point: Yeah, how'd that plan work out? Still, this DOES feel a bit incomplete, so I might write more at some point. Probably after I finish my main fics.


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